Barbie
Director: Greta Gerwig
Writer: Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach
Cast: Margot Robbie, Issa Rae, Kate McKinnon, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Sharon Rooney, Ana Cruz Kayne, Ritu Arya, Dua Lipa, Nicola Coughlan, Emerald Fennell, Ryan Gosling, Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans, John Cena, Michael Cera, America Ferrera, Ariana Greenblatt, Rhea Perlman, Helen Mirren, Will Ferrell, Connor Swindells, Lucy Boynton, Rob Brydon
Seen on: 21.7.2023

Plot:
Barbie (Margot Robbie) loves her life in Barbieland, surrounded by all the other Barbies. Ken (Ryan Gosling) is there, too, endlessly hoping to get her attention. But even though there world hasn’t changed, Barbie starts to feel a little weird, like something is wrong. Naturally, she asks Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) for advice about this – and she tells her that she needs to visit the Real World to figure things out.

I had been looking forward to this film for a while. I had completely bought into the hype preceding it and my expectations were astronomical, even as I tried to know as little as possible about the film. And boy, oh boy, the film was different from what I expected, and even more absurdly wonderful.

We’ve had movies based on toys or games before that don’t come with much of a plot or story (cough, Battleship, cough) and were people just ran with it. But what Gerwig (and Baumbach) crafted from Barbie is really astounding. It is at once a loving hommage to the hours we’ve probably all spent playing with the dolls as kids, and an attempt at feminist social commentary, it’s absurd fun and touching story.

That is not to say that Barbie is flawless in its feminist critique or politics but at least it is trying – and it does get a lot of stuff right. And all of that without sacrificing any entertainment value, because feminism aside, the film is just a damn load of fun, from the intricate production design (Barbie connoisseurs must be flipping out with all the historical references there) to the perfect cast to its sense of humor to the musical numbers. Even if you don’t care a lick about the impossible balancing act women have to attempt in this world, you will just have a good time with the film.

Margot Robbie is simply astounding as the central “classic” Barbie, and it was lovely to get the diverse Barbies around her. Ryan Gosling was equally pitch perfect as Ken. But it’s America Ferrara who holds the heart of the story, and she does such a wonderful, careful job with it, I might have to pick her as my favorite performance. Though considering the everything of the film and its actors, I’m glad I don’t have to pick. Oh, and Helen Mirren’s voice-over was simply chef’s kiss.

Barbie is a cultural landmark already, and rightfully it should hail a new age of letting great directors (especially the women) be as fucking weird as they want – taking creative risks does pay off, even in blockbuster movies. I hope that Hollywood will jump on that bandwagon, but if they don’t, at least we’ll always have Barbie.

Summarizing: Glorious.

PS: Yes, I too, participated in Barbenheimer, and I am glad I opted to see Barbie second. Would recommend this order to you as well.